Stam: “We were not good on the ball”

13 August 2016

Royals boss disappointed after first defeat of the season

Royals boss Jaap Stam experienced defeat for the first time in his Royals managerial career after seeing his side defeated at Molineux - and he made no excuses for what was a performance that didn't meet his expectations.

"It’s always a bad feeling if you lose," he began. "We could have played...there was a lot of space to play the ball, we got a lot of time to have possession.

"But we were not good on the ball, we lost it too quick, and if you lose the ball that quick in the build-up, the opposition are going to get chances. And that’s what happened.

"They were really up for it - they wanted to get to every ball and try to go forward straight away. They did that well, but we gave them too many chances.

"If you see an opponent who is dropping in, but still gives you space to play in - and yet you make mistakes on the ball, the opponent will take advantage of that and score goals.

"Football is a game of mistakes. If no-one makes mistakes, there would hardly be any goals scored – sometimes somebody makes a mistake or makes a different choice to the one he needs to make, and you concede goals."

The Royals now have the prospect of a long trip up to Newcastle in midweek to look forward to - but there will be time in the days that follow today's defeat to address some of the areas for improvement.

"I believe in how we work, how we play. All the players have a lot of confidence in that system, as do the technical staff and the club itself.

"But you need to be focused, aggressive and very sharp in these games. You don't want to make mistakes. That’s why you train, that’s why you put a lot of time into things and try to improve.

"In training sessions you have in between games, even if it’s only one or two training sessions before the next match – you can still train, you can still improve. That’s what we’ll be trying to do."